Valentino Merlo & The La Planta paired up for Billboard Argentina as the 2024 No. 1 for Billboard’s 'Global No. 1s' series. The artists teamed up to create chart breaking “Hoy,” and they share how the song was created, how they knew it would be a hit and more!
Billboard is launching its inaugural 'Global No. 1s' series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its ten-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who's No. 1 in the UK, Brazil, Korea, and more!
Billboard is launching its inaugural 'Global No. 1s' series, an initiative to spotlight top-charting artists from around the world. Billboard has partnered with its ten-plus global editions to showcase distinct voices topping their local charts around the world in exclusive interviews. Stay tuned throughout the week to discover who's No. 1 in the UK, Brazil, Korea, and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00What's up, friends of Billboard, this is Nico from La Planta.
00:02This is Valentino Merlo, and we are the cover of Global, number one.
00:05Let's go.
00:05Well, thank you, thank you for the welcome, thank you for the congratulations.
00:09The truth is that, well, it's a pleasure.
00:10The truth is that we felt it when we recorded it,
00:15something extra happened, an extra energy with the song.
00:19But well, I personally didn't expect to be, as I told you,
00:22five months or one in Billboard.
00:24The truth is that it was totally surprising.
00:27I, the truth is that... No, I'm kidding.
00:29No, I enjoyed it a lot and it was a pleasure to work with Nico
00:33and with all his team.
00:35And I'm also very happy to be number one for a long time on Billboard.
00:40It's amazing what that song was.
00:42It's a video that, on YouTube, is still number one today, it's incredible.
00:47And it goes for 300 million, so nothing, it's crazy, it's not going to stop.
00:51So, the truth is that it was good.
00:53Well, I didn't expect it so much, but he did tell me,
00:56he told me, I put on this hat and the thing sticks.
00:59And it stuck, it ended up sticking to the hat, to the little hat that turned white.
01:02And if it was going to stick, I felt the song, I felt it.
01:04As I told you, it's a matter of sensations like that,
01:07that come and go, it's weird because it doesn't happen a lot with many songs that I record.
01:11And since I recorded it, when I sent it, I told him,
01:15if it works for you, let's go out.
01:17And I was already inside, uh, this is going to explode badly.
01:20And that's it, and in the end it ended up happening.
01:22A great part of my career was sealed, and it will always be.
01:25Because it was a very important moment,
01:28and to which we went up together and went hand in hand with my whole family,
01:32with the whole team, and we worked a lot on that song.
01:36So, let's move on.
01:38It's a song that marks a before and an after in a career too.
01:41I mean, without a doubt, my year changed,
01:44and La Planta's career made boom again, 180 degrees with that song.
01:50We were already visualizing it, to see when it was going to happen,
01:53and well, in the end it happened with this one.
01:55And it's something that I feel it's not going to stop either,
01:58because he's 15, so, of course,
02:01I feel it can be one of the songs that he can sing for the rest of his life.
02:06He's only 15, so it's never going to stop today.
02:09It's something that's going to stay.
02:11So, I'm happy that we achieved it.
02:13Since I saw his first videos,
02:15I already felt that all this was going to happen to him.
02:21And well, after the first song we did,
02:25which was 100 to 0,
02:27it was left as something pending to do more,
02:30because the song went well, but it didn't go as well as we expected.
02:33An unpublished song too.
02:35He asked for more.
02:36He asked for more.
02:37So, I think that music is the main thing.
02:40Music, as Nico says,
02:42I think it unites us all,
02:44and it's something very beautiful,
02:46that a life without music is very boring,
02:48and I don't know what I would do,
02:50I would be dead if there wasn't music.
02:52But there was a connection,
02:54as Nico said,
02:56that from the song 100 to 0,
02:58we already said,
03:00we need one more collaboration,
03:02we need something,
03:04something that the song asks for more,
03:06that the people ask for more.
03:08When we released it,
03:10when we recorded the song,
03:12we already said,
03:14this is going worldwide,
03:16this is going to break everything.
03:18And as he said,
03:20it went out of our hands,
03:22and we couldn't stop it,
03:24and it went worldwide.
03:26Personally, in my project,
03:28I'm very detail-oriented.
03:30I go a little crazy,
03:32but it's something I like.
03:34I like the pressure,
03:36and I like to be attentive to what happens.
03:39I'm not the type of artist
03:41who gives in
03:43and lets everything be done.
03:45I'm not that.
03:47I handle myself differently,
03:49in that sense.
03:51I'm an observer,
03:53and I like to be attentive to everything.
03:55I don't go crazy with so many things nowadays,
03:57in terms of comparisons,
03:59in terms of things that used to happen to me more,
04:01but I'm an observer.
04:03It seems to me that it is essential
04:05to be a little attentive to what happens
04:07in life, in the world.
04:09I'm also very detail-oriented
04:11when it comes to being in the studio
04:13and making a song.
04:15When I make a song,
04:17I always look for ideas,
04:19and I get ideas from Peru,
04:21ideas from Spain,
04:23ideas that are heard in every place.
04:25We always take ideas and say,
04:27we're going to make a song
04:29for the people of Peru to hear it,
04:31for the people of Spain to hear it.
04:33And always with a sound,
04:35that makes it characteristic of someone.
04:37And I'm very detail-oriented in everything,
04:39in video, with my dad, with my mom,
04:41with my family.
04:43I'm very detail-oriented in everything
04:45because it's a form of gratitude
04:47and of value that you have for the people
04:49that support you.
04:51Suddenly you can reverse themes
04:53and these things that happened with this can happen,
04:55being in the song today,
04:57so successful, Ileria Estefan,
04:59and being such a successful composition
05:01by Jean Marco, the truth.
05:04I also feel that there is a theme of union,
05:06of always looking at what's going to happen.
05:08I have collaborated with everyone,
05:10I have collaborated with everyone,
05:12above, below,
05:14in the middle,
05:16a little more, a little less,
05:18with everything, what's coming,
05:20what's going.
05:22So it's a bit about that too,
05:24to look at what's coming,
05:26what's happening,
05:28and also to be able to do things with them.
05:30That's also what today's collaboration is about.
05:32I feel that, more than anything.
05:34I think that in the video
05:36and in the song itself,
05:38you can already hear the union
05:40and the connection that we have,
05:42the two of us with the producers,
05:44that already from the beginning,
05:46making the song, recording it,
05:48that spark was already noticeable
05:50that we both have,
05:52and being able to connect
05:54and that people like it.
05:56And what would stand out more
05:58is the way of work.
06:00Looking at it from the outside,
06:02it doesn't look as much
06:04as the quilombo,
06:06the support,
06:08but behind it,
06:10there is an incredible work
06:12that I really enjoy a lot
06:14and we also deny a little,
06:16but it is something very beautiful.
06:18I think that mate,
06:20for me in a studio, is essential.
06:22It is essential for me.
06:24Yes, me too.
06:26He is my partner many days,
06:29so I am Uruguayan,
06:31so go ahead mate, 100%.
06:33Let's go up.
06:35I would ask you if you are happy
06:37with your moment now,
06:39with what is happening to you.
06:41Super happy.
06:43I am super happy and I enjoy
06:45the day-to-day with my family a lot.
06:47I don't go crazy with a lot of work,
06:49but when you like it
06:51and value what you have a lot,
06:53you enjoy it and it becomes easier for you.
06:55I enjoy it and I am very happy
06:57for the collaboration,
06:59for each video,
07:01for this song,
07:03for the highs and lows,
07:05I always enjoy it.
07:07I try to give more
07:09and I don't stay with that.
07:11I always want more
07:13and I fight for what I like
07:15and for what we always wanted.
07:17I'm glad.
07:19I don't know what to ask you.
07:21How are you for TROFETE?
07:23I'm 100% for TROFETE.
07:25To all the people,
07:27stay tuned.
07:29Thank you for everything.